Bracelet having two spring-pressed halves

ABSTRACT

A bracelet formed of two halves that are yieldably urged by a leaf spring mounted to and extending between confronting ends of the halves towards a closed position. The ends of the spring are secured in relatively narrow slots at the interior ends of cavities that intersect the ends. Relatively wide pockets, through which portions of the spring extend, are formed in the regions of the cavities that lie between the slots and the half ends.

United States Patent 1191 Matwijcow BRACELET HAVING TWO SPRlNG-PRESSEDHALVES [76] Inventor: John J. Matwijcow, P.O. Box 338,

52 US. c1. 63/8, 63/11 [51] Int. Cl. A44c 5/12 [58] Field of Search63/11, 6, 7, 8, 3,14 G;

24/259, 256; 224/4 K, 4 J, 4 E

[5,6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS R9,482 11/1880 Carlisle63/8 139,888 6/1873 Grant 63/8 2,513,892 7/1950 Pile 63/11 X 2,306,31712/1942 Morrow 63/7 2,947,455

Straub 224/4 E 11 3,805,548 1451 Apr. 23, 1974 164,118 6/1875 Wills 63/82,501,252 3/1950 Anderson 63/6 FOREIGN PATENTSORAPPLICATIONS PrimaryExaminer-F. Barry Shay Attorney, Agent, or FirmD. Paul Weaver [5 7]ABSTRACT 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures BRACELET HAVING TWO SPRING-PRESSEDHALVES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Inaccordance with this invention, the first endsof the bracelet halves'have internal cavities, each internal cavity having a relatively narrowslot at the interior end of the cavity remote from the half end and arelatively wide pocket at the exterior end of the cavity between theslot and the half end. The spring is fitted into the cavities so thatthe ends of the spring are secured in the slots and the portions of thespring in the pockets can flex in the pockets during the opening andclosing of the bracelet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly insection, of the bracelet in closed position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. I, but showing the bracelet in openposition;

FIG. 3 is a section showing an end'of the bracelet, together with itscavity and that portion of the spring that is located in the cavity; and

FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The bracelet 10 is formed of twoidentical halves 12. The halves 12 are preferably made of a suitableplastic material and have ends 14 and 16 that respectively confront eachother. Each end 14 is intersected by a lengthwise extending internalcavity '18 in its associated bracelet half 12. Each cavity is relativelywide where it intersects the end 14 and the outer walls 20 and the innerwalls 22 of the cavities converge as they move away from the endsl4 toform pockets 24. lnwardly of the ends 14 at the interior ends of thepockets 24, the walls 20 and 22 become parallel to each other in planesthat extend from the bracelets half outer surface 26 towards thebracelets half inner surface 28 as they extend toward the bracelet halfend 14 to thereby form a relatively narrow slot 30 for each bracelethalf 12. i

A leaf spring 32 of substantiallyuniform thickness connects the bracelethalves 12. The spring 32 has tabs 34 (FIG. 3) at its ends which enablethe spring ends to securely grip the wall 20 of the slot 30 when theends of the spring are inserted into the pockets 24 with the spring endslocated in the slots 30. The midportion of Y i 2 walls 22 of the slots30 to thereby yieldably urge the bracelet halfends 16 towards eachother.

FIG. 1 shows the bracelet 10 in a closed position under the influence ofthe spring 32 and FIG. 2 shows the bracelet 10 after it has been openedagainst the influenceof the spring 32. In the closed position, thespring 32 is spaced from the outer wall 20 of the pocket 24. When thebracelet is opened against the yieldable force of the spring 32, thespring portions that are located in the pockets 24 flex outwardlytowards the outer walls 20 of the pockets while the spring ends areretained by the tabs 34 in the slots 30. It is noted that the entirelengths of the inner walls 22 are planar, both in the regions of thepockets 24 and in the regions of the slots 30, and that the outer walls20 diverge from the inner walls 22 as they extend away from the exteriorends of the slots 30 towards the bracelet half ends 14 to thereby formthe pockets 24 in such shapes as to accommodate the spring 32 during itsflexing pursuant to the opening of the bracelet.

I claim:

I. A bracelet comprising: a pair of bracelet halves havingconfrontingfirst ends and confronting second ends; said confrontingfirst ends each containing an internal cavity, intersecting each of saidfirst ends,

formed of spaced walls that are relatively close to each other to makethe cavity in the form of a relatively narrow slot at the interior endof the cavity that is remote from the associated first confronting end,said walls diverging from each other as they extend from the exteriorend of the slot towards their associated first confronting end tothereby make the cavity in the form of a relatively wide pocket at theexterior end of the cavity that intersects the associated firstconfronting end; a leaf spring having a pair of opposed ends and beingof substantially uniform thickness, said leaf spring being disposedbetween said confronting ends with the ends of'the leaf spring beingfrictionally engaged in said narrow slot portions of said cavities, saidleaf spring being bent at its midportion so that the portions of thespring on opposite sides of the bend extend angularly away from eachother at an angle of less than 180 and into the cavities so as toyieldably urge said second confronting ends toward each other; and aplurality of tabs on said ends of saidspring for preventing withdrawalof the ends of the springs from the slots after insertion therein;whereby movement of the second confronting bracelet ends away from eachother against the urging of the spring to open the bracelet forplacement on a wearers wrist will permit the portions of the spring inthe pockets to more readily flex in the relatively wide space providedby the pockets.

2. The bracelet of claim 1 wherein said walls consist of an outer walland an inner wall; wherein said inner wall is planar throughout itsentire extent; wherein the slot region of the outer wall lies in a planeparallel to the inner wall; and wherein the pocket region of the outerwall diverges from the inner wall in a direction tends towards the firstend.

1. A bracelet comprising: a pair of bracelet halves having confrontingfirst ends and confronting second ends; said confronting first ends eachcontaining an internal cavity, intersecting each of said first ends,formed of spaced walls that are relatively close to each other to makethe cavity in the form of a relatively narrow slot at the interior endof the cavity that is remote from the associated first confronting end,said walls diverging from each other as they extend from the exteriorend of the slot towards their associated first confronting end tothereby make the cavity in the form of a relatively wide pocket at theexterior end of the cavity that intersects the associated firstconfronting end; a leaf spring having a pair of opposed ends and beingof substantially uniform thickness, said leaf spring being disposedbetween said confronting ends with the ends of the leaf spring beingfrictionally engaged in said narrow slot portions of said cavities, saidleaf spring being bent at its midportion so that the portions of thespring on opposite sides of the bend extend angularly away from eachother at an angle of less than 180* and into the cavities so as toyieldably urge said second confronting ends toward each other; and aplurality of tabs on said ends of said spring for preventing withdrawalof the ends of the springs from the slots after insertion therein;whereby movement of the second confronting bracelet ends away from eachother against the urging of the spring to open the bracelet forplacement on a wearer''s wrist will permit the portions of the spring inthe pockets to more readily flex in the relatively wide space providedby the pockets.
 2. The bracelet of claim 1 wherein said walls consist ofan outer wall and an inner wall; wherein said inner wall is planarthroughout its entire extent; wherein the slot region of the outer walllies in a plane parallel to the inner wall; and wherein the pocketregion of the outer wall diverges from the inner wall in a directionextending from the exterior end of the slot towards the first end, saidouter wall acting as a stop to limit flexing movement of the spring. 3.The bracelet of claim 2 wherein said inner wall lies in a plane thatextends from the bracelet half outer surface towards the bracelet halfinner surface as it extends towards the first end.